North Carolina Sites

G. Glenn Newell painted this mural, "Daydreams" in 1941 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It hung in the Wallace, North Carolina, post office, which is now privately owned.

The historic New Deal post office in Canton, North Carolina is privately owned. This terra cotta sculpture "Paper," created by Sam Bell, was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It still hangs in the building lobby today.

"Early Days at Elkin" Medium: terra cotta

This bas relief entitled "Rural Delivery" was created by Duane Champlain with Section of Fine Arts funds in 1939. It was moved to its current location from the old post office in 1978.

This 4' x 4' relief "Early Childhood of Virginia Dare" by Jean de Marco was completed with Section of Fine Arts funds in 1940.

The mural "Daniel Boone on a Hunting Trip to Watauga County" was commissioned by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Painted by Alan Tompkins, it was installed in Boone, North Carolina's historic downtown post office building in 1940.

Francis Speight painted "Cotton Field and Spinning Mill" (oil on canvas) for the Gastonia post office with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The post office contains a mural entitled "Threshing Grain" painted by Richard Jansen in 1938. It was restored in 2004. Mr. Jansen also painted murals for the post offices at Sauk Centre, MN and Reedsburg, WI. Most New Deal post office murals were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic post office in Louisburg, North Carolina houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Tobacco Auction," by Richard Kenah. The work was commissioned by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1939.

Charles W. Ward painted this 1938 mural "Cotton Pickers" with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The Siler City Post Office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural by Maxwell B. Starr entitled "Building the First House at Siler's Crossroads." Medium: oil on canvas

"Southern Pines Idyll" Medium: oil on canvas

This mural "North Carolina Pastoral" by Alice Dineen was completed with Section of Fine Arts funds in 1938.

"First Flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk" Medium: oil on canvas, 1940 Phillip Von Saltza, painter Von Saltza's painting was selected from a pool of 1,475 entrants. The painting, in the post office in this eastern North Carolina town, commemorates the Wright brothers' first experiment with flight, which happened just around 100 miles away in Kitty Hawk.

William Pfohl painted this oil on canvas mural in 1940, entitled "Port of Wilmington," with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the post office library.

Simka Simkhovitch painted four oil-on-canvas murals for the Beaufort, North Carolina post office: "Crissy Wright," "Goose Decoys," "Mail to Cape Lookout," and "Sand Ponies". They were installed in the lobby of the post office in 1940.

  John W. de Groot painted these three oil on canvas murals--"Battle of Little Raft Swamp," "Coming of the Scots," and "Peace--Work and Knowledge"--in 1941 for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. They are viewable in the Red Springs post office lobby.

This glazed terra cotta relief entitled "American Oriental Rug Weaving" was created with  Section of Fine Arts support in 1941 by artist Ruth Nickerson. Originally installed in the Leaksville NC post office at 634 Monroe St. In the 1950's, Leaksville and 2 other towns combined to form the city of Eden. The old Leaksville post office station was closed around 1991 and the relief moved to the new Eden post office.

Nina de Brennecke created three carved mahogany bas relief sculptures: "Peaches," "Dewberries," and "Drilling," in 1942 with funds provided by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. They are viewable in the lobby of the historic Hamlet, North Carolina post office.

A swimming pool and bathhouse at Pullen Park in Raleigh, North Carolina were constructed as part of a federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression. (ncsu.edu) The current status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

"Between 1932 and 1935 communities throughout North Carolina, including Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, benefited from a broad array of public works funded primarily by Washington.  These included ... the extension of a section of Queens Road to connect with East Morehead Street ..."

The Raleigh Art Center, an initiative of the Federal Art Project, was a Works Progress Administration initiative to promote a culture of art in North Carolina and is the direct predecessor of what is today the North Carolina Museum of Art. It was first and foremost a specific space at 413 Fayetteville Street, Raleigh’s main street, sandwiched between a hotel and a Chinese laundromat in a formerly vacant store, opposite the Hotel Sir Walter Raleigh, the most prestigious social space in town. Sponsored jointly by the City of Raleigh, North Carolina Art Society, Chamber of Commerce, State Historical Commission, and...

"Raleigh Little Theatre (RLT) is a community theatre in Raleigh, North Carolina that produces 10 to 11 full productions annually and maintains a comprehensive youth and adult theatre education programs... Raleigh Little Theatre started in 1935-36 when a group of Raleigh performers joined forces with technical workers from the Federal Theatre Project to bring community theatre to Raleigh. ... Then, civic leader Cantey Venable Sutton started the Works Progress Administration construction of the main theatre, amphitheatre and Rose Garden. In 2000, the main theatre was named in honor of Mrs. Sutton. ... RLT was the first community theatre in the South to cast...

"$150,000 of WPA money went to Raleigh Municipal Airport for paving runways." (ncsu.edu) The airport, which was located south of Raleigh, no longer exists.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) constructed runways at Raleigh Municipal Airport south of Raleigh, North Carolina. The field closed in 1973 and the property has since been thoroughly redeveloped.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) provided labor for the construction of multiple facilities at Recreation Park in Asheville, NC. The CWA constructed a barracks at the park, as well as developing a skating rink. The FERA improved roads at the park. The status of these structures is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped construct Salem-Winston’s Reynolds Park and Recreation Center between 1939 and 1940. “A $300,000 proposed municipal park and recreation center at Winston-Salem, N.C., has received final approval in Washington,” a journalist for Park & Recreation magazine reported. “The development, to be known as Reynolds Park, will be located two miles east of the courthouse square…Within the area will be an 18-hole golf course, a large swimming pool, tennis courts, an athletic field and wooded area for walking and picnicking.” The fruits of this WPA-funded project can still be enjoyed today.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor for the development of a "Rhododendron Gardens Park" in Asheville, North Carolina. The project cost was $4,089.29, all footed by the federal government. The location and status of this project is unknown to Living New Deal, although there was a Rhododendron Park reputedly located in West Asheville. A 1936 USGS map places Rhododendron Park at the coordinates shown.

The Treasury Department funded the construction of the U. S. Post Office and Federal Building. The Art Deco structure was built in 1935 at the cost of more than $225,000. The architect of record was Louis A. Simon of the Public Works Branch, Procurement Division of the United States Treasury. The contractor of record was Farnell A. Blaire. Inaugurated in 1937, the building houses an example of New Deal artwork. The structure's linear ornamentation is typical of the Art Deco style of that era. According to the Richmond County Historical Society, "The three-story orange brick building (which also has a basement) is ornamented by unglazed terra-cotta...

The historic former New Deal post office and federal building—now the Richmond County Administration Building—in Rockingham, North Carolina received an example of New Deal artwork upon its completion. Commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, Edward Laning painted this triptych, "The Post as Connecting Thread in Human Life," in 1937. The work can be found n the lobby near the building's entrance.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to improve roads in Blowing Rock, North Carolina and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) surfaced more than two miles of roads in the village as well. Per The News and Observer, the "stone is quarried near the town, hauled to the street being repaired, crushed and spread on the job."

Lumberton, North Carolina's Robeson County Agricultural Building was constructed in 1937 with federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor.

Ruth G. Rush Residence Hall, constructed as a women's dormitory at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina, was built as part of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. A National Register of Historic Places nomination form states that the building bears a plaque stating that the building was "designed by Federal Works Agency architect John M. Carmody."

"Salisbury High School began in 1904 and was the second high school in North Carolina. The current location was completed in 1926 and named Boyden High School in honor of Colonel Archibald Henderson Boyden, an educator who was then Mayor of Salisbury. It is one of many schools built across North Carolina in the early 20th Century. The building was designed by C. Gadsen Sayre and built by L. S. Bradshaw, and (as Boyden High School) was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 23, 1996. Six additional buildings were constructed on campus to facilitate the school's...

Between 1937 and 1939 the existing 1904 courthouse was extensively renovated and a  new jail was added. A 1978 report entitled 100 Courthouses, A Report on North Carolina Judicial Facilities states that the county wanted a new building, but the WPA,  which supervised the undertaking, objected. The reconstruction greatly enlarged the building and completely transformed its looks. This all suggests that a considerable amount of the financing came from the federal government. The architect was R. R. Markley.

A major sanitary sewer construction project in Waynesville, North Carolina was enabled by federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the Great Depression. The PWA provided a $122,500 loan and $100,227 outright grant to the community for the project, whose total cost was $215,600. Construction occurred between November 1938 and August 1939. PWA Docket No. NC 6201.

The Scotland Neck Historic District contains multiple buildings constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). "A brick gymnasium and vocational building constructed on the grounds of the no longer extant 1923 Scotland Neck High School in the 1300 block of Main Street was built by the WPA in 1940 (#49). The building was renovated in 1996 for use as a Senior Citizen Center."

A large sanitary sewer construction project in Winston-Salem was undertaken with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. The PWA supplied a $259,000 loan and $25,723 grant toward the $258,255 total cost of the project. Work occurred between June 1934 and October 1935. (PWA Docket No. NC 2052)

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed a gymnasium at the old high school for the Sharon school district in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (now within the city limits of Charlotte). The structure, whose exact location is unknown to Living New Deal, no longer exists. "The Long Creek High School Gymnasium was one of eight facilities of its general type constructed in Mecklenburg County under the arrangements outlined above, the others being at the high schools then in the local school districts of Huntersville, Paw Creek, Pineville, Sharon, Oakhurst, Berryhill, and Bain. Only the Long Creek Gymnasium survives from this initial round...

Sheep-Harney Elementary School was built in 1940 as a project of the Works Projects Administration. It was constructed on the site of an earlier school as S.L. Sheep Junior High School, and named for an educational leader in Elizabeth City. It is a building noted for its exceptional Art Deco details.